North-West Europe

Geographically it is almost always used to include the United Kingdom and Ireland; the northern and western parts of France and Germany; the Benelux countries; and Scandinavia (though possibly not Finland). It would normally exclude the Iberian peninsula, Italy; Switzerland, and southern and western parts of France and Germany, might be included, but Austria would not be. This usage is helpful when discussing issues of climate or biology. Broadly speaking, it represents the area whose climate and biogeography is significantly modified by the Gulf Stream.

Socially, "North-West Europe" is sometimes used to refer to the group of nations within this broad geographical area where English is either the first language or is known and spoken by all educated people; these nations are felt to share some cultural traits (for example, a history of Protestantism) that differentiate them from their Mediterranean or Slav fellow-Europeans. This leads to much the same definition as the geographical one above, but would more definitely exclude France (and, less certainly, Belgium or at least Wallonia).

Politically, some europhobic British commentators exclude the UK and Ireland from the definition from any part of Europe.

In military history, North-West Europe has been used to refer to the theatre of military operations in that approximate area. In World War II, there were three separate theatres in Europe: NW Europe, Italy, and Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union. The United Kingdom was not counted as part of the NW Europe theatre since there was no land conflict there. After the defeat of France, the NW Europe theatre was first re-established (if minor raids are discounted) by the invasion of France by Allied troops on the June 6, 1944 landing in Normandy (Operation Overlord). Many battle honors list the group of battles (including Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the Battle of Berlin, among many others) simply as "NW Europe".

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